“We arrived somewhere in an English forest (apparently Ross on Wye). Straight away we got stuck in to some team building games to bond as a group before we started canoeing. After some tight rope walking and catching each other falling on the floor, the trust was sufficent to get into the water.
We started paddling our 15 miles down the River Wye making VERY slow progress… Emily and I weren’t exactly a ‘dream team’ and Anmohl and Becky could barely keep themselves out of the trees that lined the river bank! So it wasn’t long before we had to have abit of a rearrange of teams. With new partners and new tatics we quickly made progress! But the night (and darkness) was fast approaching and we had to speed up if we were to set up our camp and eat before Mr Tucker got grouchy (he doesn’t like the dark). Before we were allowed a morsel of food we had to scavenge for firewood for our ‘stove’ and attempt to out up our hammocks for ‘sleeping in’. Watery ‘thai red’ chicken curry a la Mrs Lee had never tasted so good, we were so exhausted and hungry. But not too exhausted to roast marshmallows!!
The hammocks seemed very sturdy and everybody settled down for a much needed night’s sleep…apart from me, I guess my scouting skills weren’t quite up to scratch as in the middle of the night I plunged to the floor, my hammock failing everywhere, leaving me soaking wet and homeless for the night whilst the others slept tightly in their cocoons. That was probably the worst night’s ‘sleep’ of my life. But at least I was the first one awake and ready for breakfast! A big pot of porridge was served up (much like prison or gruel with the odd apple) which was okay with a splodge of nutella…ahh nutella..at least the British understand SOME French customs.
After our continental petit-dejeuner, it was time for some archery. Even though we were all pretty much archery first-timers, but the end at least we could hit the target- 9 times out of 10! All of that weaponry had worn us out but luckily the woodlands had a ready made source for us to forage for and eat for lunch..nettles!” The boys started on making nettle soup whilst the girls had pretty much already finished making their delicious cheesy, herby bread. The girls thrashed the boys with their fireflighting skills…watch out the lower sixth BBQ, boys!
After all of that excitement it was real shame to pack everything up and think about going home. From not knowing each other to becoming best of friends, we were ready to start out journey on the IB! I didn’t want to leave the beautiful Wye Valley, but I was ready to have a shower.”
(Pawel – Year 12 French Student)